Black Lightening Roses
by Traviosita9124
Summary: Tris and Briar are left to fend for themselves for a week, with interseting results from their blooming romance. But can they weather the consiquences? RR COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

None of these fabulous books (by Tamora Pierce) are mine. This is just the ramblings of my mind, making the plot 110% mine. Disclaimer good for the rest of this story.  
  
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It was quiet.  
  
Almost too quiet, as Trisana Chandler sipped her tea and read the newest book her teacher, Niklaren Goldeye had given her on volcanoes. It had been years since the forest fires at Gold Ridge, but they still fascinated her. Suddenly, a log in the fire popped, nearly causing her to spill her tea just as the door to Discipline cottage opened.  
  
She sat up, dodging her hot tea (not that it would've harmed her, her primary magic being dealings with lightening, making her almost immune to extreme heat) as it dripped onto the floor and dropping her book.  
  
"Oh, gods damn it all!" In her concern for the stain on the new throw rug Sandry had just sent from the Citadel, the opening door slipped her mind.  
  
"Is that any way for a proper merchant girl to talk, Coppercurls?"  
  
She smiled, still looking down; she only allowed one person to call her Coppercurls. This was a well known fact, considering the time she set her winds on a novice who forgot that certain condition.  
  
"You of all people should know that I am neither proper, a merchant, nor a girl any longer." She smiled up at the young man who had come in. At seventeen, he was six feet tall, with a blade thin nose and jade-color eyes sparkling with mischief. He wore a loose cream colored shirt that contrasted against his tan skin, with hunter green breeches, a black patent leather belt and boots. As she smiled at her friend, Tris tried not to allow her eyes to wander to the bare chest showing through the opening in his shirt.  
  
He moved closer to her, taking in the girl he hadn't seen in years. In stead of the shortly shorn hair that Rosethorn had given her when she was eleven, she now wore her hair in a multitude of braids, and all except the two framing her stubborn face were pinned up at the top of her head. She still wore her glasses, but her eyes had gone from a solid grey to more of a grey-blue, reflecting her power with the winds and sea. She had even slimmed down a bit (her cheeks were still chubby, something he found endearing about her) by practicing the combat moves he had taught her when they were kids. All in all, at 5'6, his Coppercurls made a beautiful sixteen year old. He reached out and gently tugged at one of her braids, seeing the power in them.  
  
"Is that the way you greet and old and dear friend, Tris? And what is this about you neither being proper nor a girl any more? Who got to you before me?"  
  
Tris enveloped her old friend in a hug. "Briar Moss, you should feel special. I only greet you with that kind of distain and you being so unappreciative really does hurt, you know." She pulled away, leaving her arms still around his neck and his around her waist, and looked up to smile at him.  
  
"You wench," Briar exclaimed, pulling her even closer. "Of course I appreciate you. But back to my other question. What's this about you not being proper any more?" He looked around. "And seeing as how this place is empty 'cept for us, what man do you have coming over?" He waggled his eyebrows at her, and made a lewd gesture with his mouth.  
  
"Briar!" She hit him lightly on the chest. "Do you want some tea? I just made a pot."  
  
"Tea sounds great; perfect pick-me-up for the weary traveler. But seriously, where is everybody?" he asked as he followed her into Discipline's small kitchen.  
  
"Well, you already know that Sandry has moved in with the duke into the Duke's Citadel to care for her uncle." Briar nodded to confirm his knowledge of this. "About three hours ago, Niko was called down to the Hub. He came back an hour ago, packed, and informed me that he was needed at some mage's meeting in the south; I was told to stay and help out around here. My guess is that Niko is going somewhere and doing something dangerous again." She handed Briar his mug of tea and refreshed her own, rolling her eyes. Leaning against the counter, she continued her story. "If he weren't he would've asked me to go with him." She grumbled and sipped her drink.  
  
"Someone sounds jealous. Tris, Niko is forty some odd years our senior. He's a big boy; I think he can handle himself."  
  
"I know, I know, but still. I feel better when I know what's going on. It's the busy body in me." She smiled over the rim of the mug. "In any case, Rosethorn and Lark will be in Summersea for the next week or so, as guests of the duke and Sandry. They went with Daja and Frostpine to stock up on supplies while the fair's in town. Frostpine is looking for more scrap metals and in the process is offering his and Daja's services for repairs. Lark needs more cloth and such, and Rosethorn went for more exotic plant seeds. She wanted to surprise you with them when you returned. We weren't expecting you back from Hajra until late next week."  
  
Briar drained his drink and waited for Tris to finish hers. When she did, they took up familiar positions at the sink, him washing, her drying. Briar started with the left over lunch dishes, methodically washing and handing off to Tris. It was nice, calming work, and they chatted, enjoying the quiet.  
  
"So its you and me for the week, eh, Coppercurls?"  
  
"Looks that way." Briar notice the calm, collected look on Tris' face as she worked. That was new; as a child, she had always rebelled against housework, a painful reminder of the work that her family had forced on her in her youth. "If you don't mind the observation, why are you so calm? You hate housework."  
  
She smiled to herself, considering what Briar had said. "I still do. But I've learned to enjoy mundane tasks; there's a pleasure in doing brainless things. It lets my mind wander." She got a dreamy look on her face, staring out the window.  
  
Thank the gods, or Briar would've been hit for the once over he was giving her. Being so much taller than his friend, he noticed that her dress was rather low cut for what he remembered as her usual dress, giving him a glimpse of her chest. He chastised himself for the impure thoughts, but still... they had both grown up, and was it really his fault if he couldn't help noticing her body? If she hadn't wanted the attention, she shouldn't have worn the dress! And her butt... he leaned back a little to get a better look. Yeah, she had been practicing what he had taught her. He smirked to himself as he finished up, draping his washing rag over the sink edge, thinking the whole while what Rosethorn, Lark, and the other women of Discipline house would do to him if they found out what ran through his mind. Finishing up, he rested on the edge of the sink to peer at Tris as she finished up her own work.  
  
She turned to face him, and jumped back, not expecting his face to be so close to her own. The intensity of his eyes and the whiteness of his smile so close to her had startled her, making her jump. He just laughed.  
  
"Coppercurls," he said, resting a hand on her lower back, dangerously close to an asset he had been admiring, "I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams." He leaned in to kiss her cheek and give her a hug, but by chance, Tris had turned her head at the right moment and he caught her lips. For a second, their eyes locked, shock in both. But he went with it, and increased the pressure of his kiss. When her eyes drifted shut, he followed suit.  
  
Tris eventually pulled away, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "Well, good night then," she told him, and ran off to her room.  
  
Briar just stood at the sink, and watched her go. He had just kissed Trisana Chandler.  
  
And he hadn't been struck by lightening... yet.  
  
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Tris wasn't able to sleep. There were too many distractions; the winds calling to her from her window were one of many. Many months ago, Tris had moved her bed under her window, so she could look out it and play with the winds on nights such as this, when insomnia plagued her. It was so bad, she half considered undoing one of her braids and playing with her lightening. Then she remembered one of Niko's speeches to her about the dangers of her power, and all the problems it could cause. Tris resigned herself to pushing her coverlet down to her waist and calling the cool winds to play over her body.  
  
Just as she grew cold, she heard Briar's mind call.  
  
~Hey, Tris, you sleeping?~  
  
She groaned to herself. What did he want now, she wondered. She rolled onto her stomach. All she wanted to do at the moment was try to get to sleep; never mind her body refused to let her. She wished to attempt sleep anyway!  
  
~Coppercurls, I know you're awake. I'm just over you're room, and heard you groan.~  
  
~Fine, fine, FINE. I'm awake, are you happy now?!~  
  
~Very much so. Come join me.~  
  
~Briar, I want to sleep. What in the name of Tuhengri Stormlord makes you think you can summon me whenever you wish? I am not one of your students at your beck and call.~ She added to herself, besides, he already got his chance to see me tonight. By the gods, did he really think she hadn't noticed? Her mind had been wandering, not on a completely different plane.  
  
~Please, Tris? Full moon tonight... even me and the plants can feel its pull.~  
  
Damn him. Damn him for knowing what buttons to push. Briar knew she loved the moon, and was fascinated by how the moon affected the tides.  
  
~I'm on my way. And you're a liar, Briar Moss. The moon doesn't affect plants that greatly.~  
  
Tris could feel Briar's mental laugh reverberating through out her skull. She crawled out of bed, pulled her hair back again, and made her way onto the roof. She found Briar leaning against the chimney facing the sea.  
  
"You dragged me out of bed to watch the sea with you?"  
  
He turned to face her. And truth be told, he was a bit shocked. Tris was wearing a white nightgown that was practically see-through when she stood in the proper light. Briar felt his jaw go slack at the sight, and had to concentrate on not allowing it to drop. He couldn't believe his Coppercurls would go out in front of a guy wearing that, even if said guy was him! He saw the outline of her thighs, hips, stomach, breasts... he turned away from her to hide the guilty look on his face, and quickly rearranged his pants to hide the sudden bulge. He had to think of a quick remark...  
  
"You make me wanting to spend time with you sound bad when you say it like that."  
  
She tilted her head to the side and thought about what he said. Briar wanted to spend time with her?  
  
"Briar, you know I love spending time with you." She crossed to him and took a seat close enough that she could feel the body heat coming off him in waves. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea to wear only her nightshirt out onto the roof.  
  
Briar noticed her shiver and shifted closer to her, wrapping her arm around her to help her keep the warmth in; she resisted at first, but finally decided that warm and close was much better than cold and far. He smiled down at her.  
  
"You never could resist one of my guilt trips, could you, Coppercurls?"  
  
She shook her head no, watching the sea. It was what she had been called out for after all. Briar continued.  
  
"You remember that time when Crane had us mixing love and anti-love mixes with the herbs?"  
  
"Yes, I remember it well. It smelled so good in there that day... all of the cinnamon, ginger, jasmine, patchouli, peppermint, rose, sandalwood, and spearmint!"  
  
"And you, weather witch that you are, dared me to drink some of it! I was kissing everything I could get my hands on!"  
  
"I remember it well. And don't blame my dare. If you had put a little more restraint into the magic, you wouldn't have had to kiss everything that afternoon until I got the anti-love done."  
  
"You prolonged that on purpose! You know what, Tris? I think you liked the fact that I kissed you so often that afternoon."  
  
"Your awfully full of yourself. I just enjoyed watching you try to get your arms around Dedicate Gorse..."  
  
"I take back what I said earlier. You're not a wench, you're my own personal imp come to torture me." She just laughed. "So you really believe you didn't enjoy it? Shall we try a recreation?"  
  
Tris felt her heart start to pound. "As you wish."  
  
Briar hadn't thought that would be her response. He swallowed the large lump in his throat. "I think we began like this..."  
  
He placed a light kiss on her nose, and Tris' eyes drifted shut. She was back in Crane's greenhouse, twelve years old again. Then a little kiss like the one she had just received had meant nothing then, but that wasn't the case now. Briar had moved on to her lips... wait, that had never happened in the greenhouse!  
  
Funny, Tris really didn't care at the moment.  
  
He kept it light at the moment, giving her a chance to back out with both of their dignities intact. When she shifted to straddle him, he got the hint and kissed her harder, his tongue finding its way into her mouth...  
  
Tris' eyes snapped open. She was in her bed, and she had been dreaming.  
  
Or had she? She felt the weight of an arm on her waist. Gently, she picked up the hand and examined the living vine tattoos on it.  
  
Briar.  
  
In her bed.  
  
With her.  
  
She twisted around to look at him. Well, at least they were both still dressed. Nothing had happened. Heaving a light sigh, somewhere between relief and disappointment, she shook him lightly until he roused from his sleep.  
  
"Briar, what in the world are you doing in my bed?"  
  
"I heard you whimpering... I had figured you were having the pirate dream again. When you didn't wake up, I just climbed in with you. The minute I put my arm around you, you stopped shaking. I took it as a good sign and stayed. Do you want me to leave?"  
  
He looked like a little boy again, being yelled at by Rosethorn for something that really hadn't been his fault.  
  
"No, stay. And Briar?"  
  
"Yeah, Tris?" he asked ready to go back to sleep.  
  
"Thank you for checking on me." She placed a kiss on his forehead and turned onto her side, ready to sleep, Briar's arm back around her.  
  
Briar didn't sleep much that night. He kept thinking about the cool spot on his head where his Coppercurls had kissed him.  
  
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Well, that's the first chapter. R for later chapters. And of course, read AND review people. Please?  
  
AML ~*kt*~ 


	2. Chapter 2

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Briar woke long before Tris did, and spent about a half hour just watching her sleep. Without her spectacles, Tris looked sixteen, not forty-five; he wondered if she had ever gone to a healer to see what could be done about her eyes. She may not even need her glasses after all.  
  
Closing his eyes again, he buried his face in her braids, placing a kiss on the main one running down to the nape of her neck. He breathed deep, smelling the mix of the soap and shampoo he had made just for her. It was his own blend of cinnamon and crisp apples; it reminded him of autumn, when the last of the big summer storms came through, and how Tris always took delight in running through the rain, drawing lightening down to herself and dancing to her own beat.  
  
Briar always had trouble deciding which sent he had mixed for his foster sisters was his favorite; Daja's had been excluded long ago. The hyacinths smelt wonderful on the smith mage after they all bathed, but it had never been one of his favorites. And Sandry, while being close enough for friendship, always put her uncle before her love life; the lavender mix for her reflected in Briar's mind her devotion to her uncle, and a life too full for anyone else.  
  
Tris, on the other hand, had always made time for him. If he wanted to talk, all he needed to do when he was home was send out a mind call to her, and she'd meet him on the roof to talk. And it was he, not Sandry or Daja, that went to Tris' side when she woke screaming about the pirate attack from ages ago, and hugged her until she finally nodded off to sleep.  
  
He kissed her right behind the ear nearest to him, and whispered, "I do believe I'm falling for you, Coppercurls."  
  
Without warning, she sleepily turned to look at him, her voice still husky with sleep as she asked, "What was that, Briar?"  
  
Her voice hit his ears, and all of his blood went rushing south. In one simple question, she had embodied everything he could always imagine waking up next to, everything he had ever wanted.  
  
Quickly, he turned away from her and rolled out of bed.  
  
"Good, you're awake, Coppercurls. I was starting to wonder how long you were going to be. I'll get started on our breakfast, then after chores, we can go work on some more on the street fighting, okay? Okay. Good. I'll see you down in a few minutes."  
  
He practically ran out of her room and down the stairs, leaving Tris to wonder about his confession of love, and the truth behind it, considering his quick departure.  
  
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"I can't believe it!"  
  
"Can't believe what, Briar?"  
  
"That we have no food in the pantry! Gorse is off his game, leaving us with nothing but a side of beef and string beans for breakfast."  
  
He turned to look at Tris, and was shocked to see her laughing at him. He shut the pantry door and approached her, until there was barely an inch between them. That shut her up.  
  
"And what's so funny, Coppercurls?" he asked, looking down at her. "One would think you'd feel my pain."  
  
She just pushed lightly on his stomach, remarking, "Your "pain", Briar?" She kept pushing him back until he ran into the table. "I can make you feel pain you've never felt before."  
  
Instead of shying away, he held his ground, enjoying how close she was.  
  
"I have no doubt that you could cause me immense pain." He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "And I look forward to every minute you inflict on me." Pulling back and seeing the blush covering her cheeks was pleasure enough.  
  
"You may not be a girl anymore, Coppercurls, but you still have the decency to blush. Get the dishes set out. I'll run to the kitchens and get food, since I'm willing to bet Niko took all of ours. After breakfast and chores, we work."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
And work they did. Briar had Tris holding one kick form for a half hour easy. Just when she was ready to drop her leg and go to the other one, she felt Briar come up behind her. She froze, the same way a rabbit does before it runs.  
  
Briar was almost shocked when he put his hands on her and she didn't bolt. Slowly, he came up behind her, putting his left hand on her hip, the other on the underside of her out streached leg. She had nothing but muscle on her legs, he noticed, as he lifted her leg higher.  
  
"Tris, hold it up here; you want the full stretch. And keep your upper body straight." He put both hands on her ribcage, trying to avoid her breasts and keep her steady at the same time. "Here, lower you leg."  
  
She did as was requested of her.  
  
"Good. Now, lift again," Briar instructed, catching her under the thigh as Tris complied with his request. He lifted her leg higher than it had been before, but stopped and eased off when he saw the grimace on Tris' face.  
  
"You want me to stop, Coppercurls?"  
  
She wouldn't answer him.  
  
"Tris, what is it? I can't help if you don't tell me."  
  
He felt her break down. Tris turned her head in his direction.  
  
"Let me down, Briar."  
  
He eased up, sliding his hand slowly down her thigh to the back of her knee, pausing to tickle the soft skin there. She let out a loud laugh and quickly spun around to scold him.  
  
"Briar that tickled!" Tris frowned and leaned over to scratch the crook of her knee. "And now it itches, and I can't even scratch it properly!"  
  
"So I've given you an itch you can't scratch, is that right, Coppercurls?"  
  
She suddenly stood straight, a teasing look in her eye. She walked to Briar, standing much closer than what was needed or necessary.  
  
Giving a purposeful look at Briar's crotch, she smiled coquettishly and said, "Let's not get to cocky, Briar." She paused to giggle at the look on his face. "C'mon, Briar. You already know I'm not a little girl any longer. Close your mouth, we have weeding to do."  
  
Before Briar could come up with a retort, Tris was already in Rosethorn's workroom gathering the things needed for weeding, leaving him to pick up the practice staffs.  
  
He gathered them into his arms and went into the house mumbling, "One day soon, woman, you're going to follow through on your innuendo."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Their weeding carried them through to well past midday.  
  
Tris and Briar trudged into the house, dirt streaked on their faces, arms, and clothes; some of it even managed to get on the inside of Tris' spectacles. She grabbed a damp rag off the sink, took off her spectacles, and wiped them off.  
  
Briar watched as she did this, and he couldn't help wondering why she still wore them. So he asked.  
  
"Tris, why don't you just go to a healer and see if they can give you something for you eyes?"  
  
She put her glasses back on, and met his eyes. "I have been Briar, but they've only improved my eyesight marginally. Now I can see things if I hold them close enough, but these," she said, indicating her spectacles, "help me see everything else. Besides, they've got protection spells on them, so magic doesn't completely blind me when I see it, and they've grown on me a bit."  
  
Briar bit his lip, pondering what she had just said; surprise, surprise, she was right. With out her spectacles, she wasn't Tris. He told her so.  
  
"Glad to know you approve, Briar. Now, get the cutting block and slice some bread for sandwiches, please."  
  
Briar went about his business as Tris disappeared into the pantry, and then reappeared with the cold side of roast beef Briar hadn't deemed fit for breakfast. She also carried some of Rosethorn's tomatoes and heads of lettuce, and promptly sliced them up for their midday meal.  
  
She took the roast beef to the cutting block, set it down, and tapped her foot impatiently until Briar looked up.  
  
"Yes, Tris?"  
  
"Are you done, Briar? Honestly, how long does it take you to slice bread?"  
  
"Not very, as long as I don't have bossy, beautiful redheads standing over me and tapping their feet while I'm doing my work." Tris just stared him down. "Do you need the cutting block, Coppercurls?"  
  
"Yes, how considerate of you to ask-"  
  
"Well too bad. Take the bread, grab those plates, and get started on the sandwiches. I'll carve the meat."  
  
She raised one eyebrow. "I supposed you believe it to be the manly thing to do?"  
  
"Yes. And not a word out of you, Coppercurls," he retorted, cutting her off at the pass. She shut her mouth and went to the table, setting plates and such out, placing lettuce and tomatoes on the four slices of bread. Briar brought the beef over, grinning like a fool.  
  
Tris just sighed. "Men. They do one thing right, and they're the king of the realm."  
  
"I do believe that's the most sensible thing you've ever said." Briar picked up his sandwich and took a huge bite.  
  
Tris took a more dainty bite, chewed, swallowed, and asked, "How about a trip to the baths after this? There'll hardly be any people there at this time of day. And after our little romp in the gardens, I'd say we could both use a through cleaning."  
  
Briar choked down the lump of food in his mouth, nodding. "And Tris, I'd be more than happy to wash your back for you."  
  
She rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"The day you wash my back, Briar Moss, is the day Shurri's realm freezes over." She gathered up her plate, washed and dried it, then ran upstairs to gather her bathing things.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Briar tapped his foot; he had been waiting for Tris to come out of the baths for the past hour. He tightened his un-dyed cotton robes as he waited for his roommate. What could be taking so long, he wondered. Was she testing him?  
  
Perhaps she was trying to get him to come in after her, he thought. And Briar would have done just that, had Tris not appeared on the scene just then.  
  
She had taken her braids down to completely wash her hair, leaving it damp and starting to curl slightly around her head. He could tell she had rushed out of the baths; her robe was still slightly undone, and fat droplets of water were running down her neck, into the valley between her... Briar shook himself out of it. I can't go there, he reminded himself. It was Tris he was thinking about, not some random street girl he could love and leave when it came down to the wire. It was Tris, who was inside his head, who he sometime felt he knew better than himself, and vice versa.  
  
What he didn't realize was that Tris had caught him at it.  
  
She rolled her eyes to herself. Men were so transparent; they couldn't keep their minds off sex, could they? Well, she thought, if he really wants to bed me so badly, I really see no problem with it...  
  
Briar caught the smile on her face.  
  
"What are you thinking about, Coppercurls?" He had a pretty good idea, but still; it was always more fun to tease Tris than outright ask.  
  
"Oh, nothing much. Just how much fun it'll be to see the look on your face when I lock you out!"  
  
Before Briar could process what she had said, Tris took off in a straight line for Discipline cottage. Not one to be out done, especially by one of his foster-sisters, Briar ran after her. He caught her just as she got inside the cottage.  
  
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he used his momentum to carry her away from the door and further into their kitchen. He dropped the bundle of his clothing that he had been running with at the door, and soon force Tris' out of her hands as well.  
  
Before she knew it, she had landed on hard on the table, with Briar's face mere inches from her own, and her robe slowly opening.  
  
"Ow, Briar, that hurt! I was just kidding about locking you out-"  
  
"And how do I know that you're telling the truth about that, Coppercurls?"  
  
Tris gave him a disgusted look and made a move to kick him; quickly, recalling everything being a street rat had taught him, he moved between her legs, giving her almost no leverage against him.  
  
It also put him inches away from being slapped for sexual harassment.  
  
"Briar, get away."  
  
"I'm sorry, but I kind of like where I am right now."  
  
She put her hands on her shoulders and shoved him hard. "Briar, I mean it, get out from between my legs."  
  
"Do you really want me to leave?"  
  
The air had changed in the room. Their eyes met, and Briar had that feeling he got yesterday when he first kissed her.  
  
"Tris, I'm going to kiss you now. Let me know if you want me to stop..."  
  
She didn't move, hardly breathed as Briar's mouth came closer to her own. When his lips brushed against hers, her eyes closed, her arms automatically wrapped themselves around his neck, and her legs around his waist. It felt so good to hold herself close to himself like this.  
  
"Briar," she whispered against his lips, "my room, now."  
  
He lifted her off the table, and put settled her on the ground. Together they struggled up the stairs, trying to maneuver in the stairwell without having to break their kiss. Who really needed fresh air anyway?  
  
When Briar had finally managed to get them into the bedroom, he sat down hard on Tris' bed, pulling her down on top of him.  
  
Tris seemed to want to keep kissing him, but he stopped her gently, and played with the belt on her robe.  
  
"Coppercurls, I know I was teasing you before about it, but if I'm headed somewhere you don't want to go with this-"  
  
She cut him off by grinding herself against his hardness. "This is headed exactly where I want it to, Briar. Now, stop playing with that belt; either you take it off me and kiss me, or we stop here. Decide."  
  
He kissed her once, slowly and thoroughly.  
  
"Good choice."  
  
Tris slid her robe off her shoulders.  
  
"By Yanna, woman, why don't you have undergarments on? Were you planning this?"  
  
She kissed him all over his face, stopping just over his lips.  
  
"No, I wasn't planning this. I just believe in expecting the unexpected."  
  
"Fair enough." He whispered as he released her from her robe and stripped his own off as well.  
  
He maneuvered them under the covers and so that he was on top. He touched her gently, seeing if she was truly ready for him; she was. He settled himself into the natural cradle her hips made for him.  
  
"Tris, last chance to back out-"  
  
"No, Briar, go."  
  
He nodded and very slowly and carefully pushed his way into her. He felt her stiffen underneath him when he broke her maidenhead, and stopped.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
She let out a puff of breath and began to relax. "Yes, just please, wait a moment, and go slow."  
  
He kissed her, waiting for Tris to tell him she was ready. He never wanted to hurt her; far from it. He just wanted her to know he loved her very, very much.  
  
"Go, Briar. I'm ready."  
  
He kept kissing her and slowly pushed in an out; only when he heard her groan in pleasure did he speed up, burying himself in the crook of her neck and kissing the soft skin there as he did so. He reached between them and touched her, trying to make her feel as good as possible.  
  
When he felt her shudder beneath him, he moaned loudly into her neck and felt his own pleasure wash over him.  
  
Had either of their eyes been open, they would have seen the flash of bright white magic that went off when they became one.  
  
And the soft rain that was falling out a clear sky and the plants that were thriving due to its fall from heaven to earth.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	3. Chapter 3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Miles away, Sandry and Daja stood at a window in the Citadel, in awe of the rain coming from a cloudless sky.  
  
"Daj', what do you think the chances are that Tris is the cause of this?"  
  
"Let's see... she's the most powerful weather witch in miles, and rain is falling from a cloudless sky. Yeah, it's definitely Tris."  
  
"What's going on? Why are you gawking and not working?" The girls turned to face the owner of the sharp voice addressing them, their teacher, Dedicate Rosethorn of the Winding Circle Earth temple.  
  
"Just look, Rosethorn. Rain, but no clouds."  
  
Rosethorn made her way to the window, and pushed in between Daja and Sandry. Dryly, she asked, "Tris behind this?"  
  
Sandry answered. "Yeah, we think so. But wait..." Sandry closed her eyes, and fell into the meditation breathing that was second nature to her by now. Working quickly, she drew out threads of her magic, and wove them into a cloth to detect different types of magic. She cast her magical working onto the land in and around Summersea, even reaching parts of Winding Circle. There was another familiar magic... there! In the plants' roots! "I knew it. Briar's involved. His magic's mixed in to Tris' somehow; it's deluded. But since Tris' magic is in so many more things than Briar's it's dominate."  
  
Rosethorn turned Sandry to look her in the eye. "Girl, are you positive?"  
  
She managed to squeak out a small yes.  
  
"Do you still have the map of your powers?"  
  
The young noble fetched the tapestry from a magically secured drawer. All precautions had been taken, but the thought of what could happen if it fell into the wrong hands forced Sandry and her uncle to take extra care of it. She handed it silently to Rosethorn.  
  
The look on the older woman's face caused Sandry's face to become sallow, and even Daja was suddenly ashen faced.  
  
"Rosethorn, what is it-"the Trader girl started, only to be cut off by her teacher.  
  
"I'll explain it later. "Lark! Frostpine! I need to see you in here!"  
  
As their teachers rushed into the chamber, Sandry and Daja looked at the weaving Rosethorn held tight. The white cotton barrier Sandry had put between all their magics was breaking where it separated Briar and Tris. It wasn't completely gone yet, but they were bleeding together much more than the rest were.  
  
"Daj', this is bad. Very bad. What could cause this?"  
  
"Maybe if you shut it for a minute, we could find out," Daja stated, gesturing to their teachers, who were now talking in hushed tones.  
  
"- but what could have done this?" Frostpine was asking. "You don't think they..."  
  
Lark's soft voice interjected. "Well, they must've. I mean, we spelled it against everything BUT this. I told you we should have, it was bound to happen-"  
  
"But Lark, we never thought... they referred to each other as siblings!"  
  
"Rosie, you know that when boys and girls hit this age, they really don't think about each other as foster-siblings as much as they think of each other as possible-"Lark caught sight of Daja and Sandry listening into their conversation, and used a word much more appropriate. "Well, lovers, you could say..."  
  
Daja and Sandry exchanged looks. Neither of them had seen this coming.  
  
~Daja, did you see this coming?~ Sandry asked her friend in mind speak.  
  
~No, I didn't. I'm hurt you have to ask; you know you're my first saati. I'd tell you if I had thought something was going on between Briar and Tris.~  
  
The girls broke their connection and resumed listening to the teachers.  
  
"We need to be there," Frostpine stated.  
  
Lark, for the first time in her life, looked slightly skeptical as she answered, "And what would we do? Scold them for being human? To be human is to err-"  
  
"That boy is going to know what a serious error this is when I get through with him!" Rosethorn declared. Neither Daja nor Sandry had ever seen her look so serious. "He'd better plan on standing by her..."  
  
"Rosie," Lark interjected, placing a calming hand on her arm, "we've raised him right. You know Briar will do right by Tris."  
  
"It makes me uneasy." Frostpine got an evil glint in his eye. "What say you to dropping in on the happy couple?"  
  
Lark's mouth dropped open. "Frostpine! We couldn't... we could scold them until the end of time, but they'd never forgive us if we walked in on them. Can't it wait until the end of the week?" When she met Rosethorn's eyes, she realized that she was hopelessly out numbered.  
  
"No, Lark, Frostpine's right. We need to handle this today. Too bad we can't get a hold of Niko-"  
  
"Someone say my name?"  
  
All eyes snapped to the door to see Niklaren Goldeye walk into the room.  
  
Sandry raised a thin eyebrow and asked the Trader girl shrewdly in mind speak, ~It's not looking very good for either of them is it?~  
  
~It's not. Between Niko and Rosethorn, it might be better just to warn them now so they can get out alive.~  
  
~Daj', do you really think with what they're probably doing they'd answer a mind call?~  
  
Sandry felt Daja's mental shrug. ~Probably not.~  
  
They focused back in on the adults.  
  
"Niko, why are you here?"  
  
"Late yesterday, I received a call to a mage's meeting in the south. I just received a message bird informing me that the meeting is postponed for another month. Now, what do you need me for?"  
  
The three dedicates quickly filled him in on what they suspected.  
  
"Frostpine and Rosethorn are right," Niko concluded. "We need to handle this now. What happened years ago when their powers were first combined can't be allowed to happen again. Just imagine it; Briar could cook dozens of flowers, or tulip bulbs could come falling from the sky the next time Tris loses her temper. We need to get home now. Sandry, which way to the stables?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tris woke ten minutes later to Briar dusting her jaw line with soft kisses. She grinned and pulled the sheet up to cover herself more completely before dragging him away from her neck and kissing him passionately on the mouth. She gave his lower lip a gentle nip as he pulled back.  
  
"Hello," Briar breathed, more than whispered against her ear.  
  
Tris laid back on her bed, and pulling Briar on top of her, resumed kissing him. When she felt light headed and concluded that air was needed to live, she pulled back and whispered to him, "Hello to you, too. How long was I asleep?"  
  
"Ten minutes at the most; I fell asleep too. I guess we know why they call it a little death, don't we?"  
  
"I guess we do," she repeated, and proceeded to burrow into Briar's chest. Briar's very muscular chest, she noted with interest. From all his hard labor in Rosethorn's gardens, she figured.  
  
Briar noticed how cold her hands were as they examined the many layers of muscle on his somewhat lanky frame.  
  
"You're hands are freezing, love," Briar pointed out to her. Quickly, before Tris could protest, he pulled her body closer to his, wrapping his arms around her waist, and burying his nose in her hair.  
  
He felt her sigh of pleasure and relief through out his body, and suddenly realized just how close they were, in body and mind.  
  
It felt good to hold another person close and kiss them. Neither of them had had what could be called blest childhoods. It only seemed fitting that they were here together.  
  
"Gods, you feel good, Briar," he felt, more than heard Tris mumble against his chest.  
  
"I was just going to tell you the same," he answered with a smile in his voice. He rubbed his hands up and down her back. "Coppercurls, is this working? Do you feel any warmer?"  
  
She nodded, lifting her head from his chest, looking at the window in front of her. "Perhaps we should shut the window." She smiled wryly at him. "That could be part of the problem."  
  
"It just might," he agreed, and turned away from her and the door, and closed the shutters. "Better?" he asked, settling back down with her pressed against his chest.  
  
A minute latter, Tris spoke again, her voice subdued. "Briar, what does this mean for us?"  
  
He pushed her slightly away from him, putting his thumb and forefinger on either side of her chin.  
  
"It means," he replied, kissing each of her gray eyes and getting rid of the tears hanging on her lower lashes, "that you are mine, now," a kiss on her nose, "and forever." He finished up by planting a kiss squarely on her lips, worrying her lower lip between his own.  
  
"I love you, Briar."  
  
"Coppercurls, the feeling is returned. I love you, too."  
  
"Now this is all fine and well, but the four of us need to have a serious discussion on both of your actions."  
  
Their eyes snapped to the door of Tris' bedroom at the sound of a new voice.  
  
Neither of them had noticed or heard Niko and Rosethorn enter the cottage and come up the stairs.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Read and review, people! I'm unhappy when I don't know your thoughts, and unhappy writers tend to work slowly. Just ask all those reading my Harry Potter stories and aren't responding. Just keep that in mind...  
  
AML ~*kt*~  
  
BTW- feel free to read my Potter fics and review those too, if that's what you're into! 


	4. Chapter 4

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tris and Briar now sat in the small kitchen of Discipline cottage, facing Niko, who sat on the other side of the table. Rosethorn stood in a corner, opting to let Niko ream them out first; she would have her chance right after. Frostpine and Lark were busy upstairs, trying to keep Sandry and Daja from prying too much.  
  
"I'm going to ask you this once, and once only," Niko told his two students, meeting each one's eyes. "Where you intoxicated when this occurred? And it would do well for you each to remember that I am a truthsayer."  
  
"Niko!" Tris quickly protested, "You know the how bad the headaches I get from mead and wine are. I can barely concentrate when I drink; and Mila knows how often you've told me how disastrous it can be when my concentration slips. And you, Niko, as my teacher should know how careful I am with my power. When I get lazy, people get killed."  
  
She stared down the man she respected and loved more than she ever could her own father. But if he stood in the way of what she had just found, she'd leave him without a backwards glance.  
  
Niko turned to Briar. "And you? Were you drunk?"  
  
He gave his typical street-rat grin and shot back with a remark to match.  
  
"Only with love."  
  
~Briar!~ Tris snapped in mind speak. ~Please, please, please don't vex him.~  
  
~Relax, Coppercurls. He won't be vexed. Mildly put off at the worst...~  
  
~Briar!~ Tris now whined inside his skull.  
  
~Fine, I'll stop.~  
  
Briar tuned back into the real world in time to hear Niko say, "Briar, do you think that this is a laughing matter? The plants around here and Summersea are either growing out of control or buzzing with excitement; rain fell from a cloudless sky. Imagine what else could happen if your powers went unchecked!"  
  
So Briar buckled down and said, "No, Niko, neither of us was drinking. Ask the bathing house attendants if I leave you with any doubts."  
  
"No, I believe you. But now we need to find a way to untangle this." He threw the map of their magics down in front of them.  
  
Tris and Briar moved closer together and leaned forward, both of them intent on the cloth before them. By now, the white and green magics had completely overcome the boundary between them, and were throwing tendrils into each other. Tris took Briar's hand into her own under the table, suddenly chilled.  
  
"By Mila," Briar whispered under his breath.  
  
He touched the map with his magic, and was flooded by everything he had felt when he made love to Tris; the love, trust, and loyalty he reserved for her alone.  
  
Their magics now thrived on each other. Tris' fed his plants with rain, and his plants provided her with what she needed to make more. It was a perfect circle, one that Briar felt couldn't be broken. Gods knew he'd lose his mind the day he lost her; especially after he had just professed his love.  
  
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and kissing her ear with complete disregard for the other people in the room.  
  
~Coppercurls, did you examine it?~  
  
~Yes,~ she promptly replied, also in mind speak. ~Briar, I don't think it CAN be separated. They need each other too much; WE need each other too much.~  
  
Briar pulled back slightly from her, looking her in the eye. ~I'll be damned if they try to split us up, Tris, and damn the consequences as well.~  
  
Tris broke eye contact first, turning to Rosethorn and Niko. "You can't separate it."  
  
"What?" Niklaren Goldeye was not used to being told what he could and could not do, especially not by his sixteen year old student.  
  
"It. Cannot. Be. Separated," Briar clarified. And for a good measure added, "And neither can we."  
  
Rosethorn jumped in. "Boy, watch your mouth; you may be seventeen, but that's still young enough for me to hang you upside down in the well. And Tris, what do you mean it can't be separated? We separated the four of you before, surely Sandry can separated the two of you easily."  
  
Tris hung her head. She was in no way what so ever prepared for this; it had been one of the hardest things to do, telling Briar that she loved him. Now, she was being asked to explain, and even dissect her love for Briar. She shuddered at the thought of explaining something so pure to the men and women she considered her mothers and fathers. How in the world would Niko, Rosethorn, Frostpine, and Lark even begin to understand?  
  
As if he read her mind, Niko told her softly, "Trisana, we may be much older than you, and this may be hard for you to comprehend, but we've felt the way you're feeling now."  
  
Tris felt a sudden rush of affection for her teacher at his words. That affection was shattered with his next words.  
  
"And you two aren't the first teenagers to make the mistake of sleeping with the first person you felt that you were in love with-"  
  
"Hold on a minute," Briar angrily interjected. "What do you mean, "felt" that we're in love?" He pointed an accusing finger in Niko's direction, his left hand still clutching Tris' right. "I don't see you with a special someone Niko; is it really your place to tell us what love feels like?"  
  
"Briar, you're seventeen, naught but a boy! You don't understand how this works-"  
  
Niko glanced at Tris, to see how she felt. When he saw that her eyes were trained only on Briar, his heart dropped into his stomach. She's as in love with him as he is with her... but then again, I never really had a chance, did I? he pondered.  
  
Briar saw the defeat in Niko's eyes, could pinpoint the moment when Niko had seen Tris' love, and knew it was not for him.  
  
Green Man, Briar thought, he's in love with her! Forty-two years her senior, but he loves her anyway. He grinned in his mind. If Niko saw what Briar saw in Tris, she was easy to love.  
  
"Niko, I know damned well how my heart works." The man looked into Briar's pleading eyes. "Please, please don't tell me otherwise."  
  
Suddenly, with out warning, Niko commanded Tris out of the room.  
  
"What? But Niko-"  
  
"Tris, out! Rosethorn?"  
  
"Come on, girl, upstairs with you," Rosethorn said as she came over, pulling her up out of her seat by the forearm, and hauling her up the stair.  
  
Briar looked down and smiled as he heard Tris arguing with his teacher. Suddenly, Tris tapped into his mind.  
  
~Briar, what in the name of Shurri is going on down there? Why did Niko order me out?!~  
  
~Hush, Coppercurls. I'll tell you later.~  
  
~Fine, hurry back to me.~  
  
He felt their connection break, and turned to face Niko.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Tris!"  
  
Daja was truly surprised to see her redhead friend come up into her bedroom, where Lark had been keeping her and Sandry to prevent their interference.  
  
Quietly, with out saying anything to any of them, Tris went over and sat at her vanity table. She picked up her brush and began to yank at the tangles in her hair. Daja, seeing that her friend could very seriously hurt herself, went over and gently removed the brush from Tris' hands, and noticed the tears that were beginning to stain her face.  
  
~Sandry~ Daja hissed in mind speak. ~Get rid of Lark. I want to know what's going on here.~  
  
~Consider it done.~ Sandry replied, before breaking off and turning to Lark.  
  
"Lark, why don't you go down? I think we're okay here."  
  
Sandry stared her teacher down, daring her to argue.  
  
"Sandry, I don't think-"  
  
"What's going to happen, Lark? Is Briar going to somehow escape Niko, run up here, and actually start something while we're in the room?" She raised her eyebrow.  
  
Lark just chuckled softly in the back of her throat. "I'll go Sandry; no need for that lovely mental imaging." They watched the elder stitch witch leave the room. When she closed the door behind her, and the three girls could hear her steps on the stair, they let lose a collective sigh of relief.  
  
Daja calmly resumed brushing Tris' hair. "So, merchant-girl, are you going to tell us what happened?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Briar arrived last night. We worked out in the morning. We took baths. We wound up in bed. Not much more to it."  
  
"Ah, cat dirt, Trisana," Sandry retorted. "We felt the cloth when your magics combined. You love him and you know we know it. Now spill."  
  
Daja had started to re-braid her hair. Tris loosened the muscles in her neck and allowed her head to move as Daja pulled on her hair, putting it into the neat braids it had been in that morning.  
  
How could she even begin to describe what she felt when she was around Briar? First was complete and totally love; she wouldn't have slept with him otherwise. Then was the loyalty, and trust she felt around him.  
  
Briar was as solid as the earth beneath her feet; he wasn't ever going to leave her.  
  
"Haven't either of you ever..." Tris trailed off, looking between her two sisters, stopping when she saw the blank look in their eyes. "Daja, with how long you've been with Kirel, you've never slept with him?"  
  
"Tris, don't you think that's rather personal?" Daja asked quietly, the red of her blush barely visible on her cheeks.  
  
The redhead was quiet until Daja had finished with her braids. When she was done, Tris turned around, blasting them with her laser eyes.  
  
"And what you asked me wasn't all that personal?"  
  
"Tris..." Sandry was trying to head her off before her temper flared too much.  
  
Bad move. Bad, bad, bad move.  
  
Tris stood up, knocking over her dressing table chair, and nearly knocking over Daja herself. "Sandry, don't you dare use that tone with me! I've just had two of my teachers walk in on me and a boy! A boy, Sandry, even if it was Briar. Mila, it's enough to have me swear off sex."  
  
She sighed and plopped down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She felt the bed sink lower when her two sisters came and sat next to her.  
  
"Gods, I don't know what to do," she whispered as Sandry stroked her hair and Daja hugged her. "I love him, you guys. I really do."  
  
Tris closed her eyes before the tears could roll down her checks, and remembered what it had been like.  
  
All over again, she felt Briar's hands in her hair as he kissed her, his breath warm against her neck and ear, and him exploring every little part of her body until she screamed her delight into his shoulder.  
  
Sandry and Daja's eyes opened when Tris' did. They had been in her mind as she remembered that most intimate moment. They had felt all the things she had, even if they hadn't meant to.  
  
"Oh Tris..." Daja whispered, pulling her friend closer to her. "I wish you the best of luck, merchant-girl"  
  
"Yeah, me too," Sandry whispered, though neither Tris nor Daja heard the hurt in her voice.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	5. Chapter 5

Wow. I've been really really lax. I should be shot and left in the circle of hell reserved for those authors that don't bother with updating their stories. I'm sorry. I hope this next bit makes up for it… I hope.

The silence was oppressive as the curtains danced in the few summer breezes that didn't cling to Tris. The pale yellow sunlight of mid-afternoon spilled from the windows over the two men at the kitchen table.

Briar kept his jade eyes focused on Niko, refusing to look away. He would pitch all the plants in the world he could against the man if it meant he'd be able to keep the love he'd found.

"Briar…"

"I love her, Niko."

The silence settled back around them again as the three temple dedicates adjusted their robes and shifted their feet. Frostpine spoke next.

"Perhaps we should leave you two gentlemen to it. Lark? Rosethorn?"

Lark pushed herself off the counter and prepared to head to the loom houses; Rosethorn, however, had something more to add.

"I will not leave. He may have earned his mage's certification, but he's still my charge. I want to hear what he has to say."

"Rosethorn, go." The voice that issued from Niko's mouth was barely recognizable to them; he was no longer the cool, calm and collected mage they were all accustomed to seeing, no, now he was a man barely maintaining control of himself.

"Niko-"

Briar interrupted her as he jumped from his seat at the table and grabbed her hands in his own. "Rosethorn, go. Niko and I need to discuss something; no secrets will be kept from you, I swear it. Go down to the bath houses, you look like a cool bath would refresh you from the road."

"Boy," she addressed him before it occurred to her that he was now taller than her and a man, " you're sounding sensible. I don't trust it. I'd better hear everything that passes here, from you and from Niko. Understand?"

Briar nodded and a small smile twisted at his lips as he watched the three dedicates leave Discipline cottage. He turned and resumed his place at the table, noticing that Niko had not moved during the exchange. Niko looked into his face and scowled.

"What do you have to grin about?"

"I was just thinking about how it seems I'm doomed to love short, hot-tempered, red-headed witches all my life." His smile faded as he looked at the distressed man across from him. "How long have you loved her, Niko?"

"You sound far too sensible to be the seventeen-year-old here," he responded, dodging Briar's question. He eventual sighed and answered. "I… I guess I've loved her since our trip back from Tharios. I watched her turn fifteen that year. I think it was that, and watching her and Kethlun. It was then that I realized she was developing feelings for men beyond foster-brother, and that men could start feeling that way about her. When that epiphany struck me, I realized I loved her and didn't want anyone else to fill the place in her life that I had." He finally met Briar's eyes. "I went as far as driving her possible suitors away. Am I horrible for that?"

Briar stopped to consider it. If he had been in Niko's position, he would have been tempted to drive other suitors away, too, as long as he felt he had a chance. Just then, he heard the girls upstairs start singing, their voices carrying down to the kitchen. It was a song about a man who lost his lover to another, younger man; it was horribly appropriate.

Briar rose and went to stand behind him, and gripped his shoulders. "No, Niko, it doesn't make you horrible. Just promise me one thing. Do not try to drive me away; Tris deserves to make her own choice, and for now I hope I'm it. I promise you, I will be as good to her as I can be. I will love her as best I can. I will be the best I can for her. I promise."

With that, he released Niko's shoulders and climbed the stairs to where Tris was.

That night, Daja couldn't fall asleep.

She wasn't sure if it was because she had heard Tris drop from her room to the ground a few minutes ago, or if it was the tension that had been rolling off Sandry that afternoon. Something was wrong with her saati, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Sandry?

Daja heard the mental sigh from her first friend at Discipline. Yes?

What's wrong with you, saati? Normally you'd be buzzing with excitement over something like Briar and Tris. Why are you so upset?

It just seems peculiar. We've all been so close to each other for so long… I just figured we'd all just find someone outside of Discipline…

Daja felt the brunette hesitate. Sandry, that's not it. Please, just say it. Daja wasn't sure what she heard next. What? Say that again.

I wanted to be the one.

The one what?

Daja, I wanted to be the one that wound up with Briar if any of us had to. The way he used to pull my braids, and call me Duchess, and we used to talk about EVERYTHING…I just figured I would be the one.

I used to think it would be you and Briar, too. But I saw how happy Tris was today, and I saw Briar go against Rosethorn for her. ROSETHORN, Sandry, a woman he's hero-worshiped for years. Both of them have had messy childhoods, and they really do love each other. You can see it on them; you know Tris wouldn't just sleep with a guy if it was just sex, even if it is Briar. They're good for each other.

Sandry didn't bother with responding. Instead, she tried to block out the muffled sounds coming from Briar's room as she drifted off to sleep.

Tris dropped to the ground as quietly as she could; the last thing she needed was Niko and the rest walking in on her and Briar a second time.

Briar! she take your shakken. I don't want to drop it.

He was there in a flash, just a breechclout on and a smile. She felt something electric run through her as he took the shakken inside and gave her a hand to hoist her through the window. She saw his muscles flex in the moonlight and thanked Mila and the Green Man that she had done this.

She found herself pressed up next to all that bare Briar flesh as he kept his hold on her and managed to put his shakken back on the ledge.

"You know, Coppercurls," he whispered into her ear, sending more electric shivers down her spine, "chances are they'll catch us again. I'm starting to think you like getting caught."

Tris pressed her grin to the warm flesh of his shoulder. He smelled like damp, fertile earth. He smelled good, and felt solid beneath her fingertips. When she met his eyes, he was still smirking at her; his smirk faded as he saw the look on her face. It had become serious, her blue-grey eyes searching his green-grey ones.

"Briar," she quietly implored him, "don't speak, just take me to bed."

"Whatever you want, Tris." He kissed her warmly as he fumbled with the ties to her nightgown. It came off quickly and was thrown into a corner of his room. He pulled back from her, awe in his eyes. "Tris…you're not wearing a breastband," his hand slipped lower, "…or a loincloth. You are a wicked, wicked woman. You'll be the end of me."

"Briar, kiss me," she pleaded, pulling his head back down. They stumbled onto his nest and collapsed. After a few sweaty minutes, Briar felt the clenching of Tris' body that told him he'd made her a very happy woman. He began to thrust wildly, finally reaching his own release.

Briar lay on his back, holding Tris close to his body as he drifted off to sleep.

"You know, Coppercurls," he whispered into her head, "I want a chance at your undergarments one day."

She pinched his side and giggled; it was an unusual sound that Briar had quickly grown to love. "Briar Moss, I swear to you on my mage's certification that you will get all the chances at my breastband and loincloths that you can stand."

She leaned up and sealed the promise with a kiss.

And as the night passed, it began to grow.


	6. Chapter 6

_And it grew for three months._

Life at Discipline cottage eased its way through summer and into Barley Moon. The days were warm, nights were cool, and Briar was now toiling in the garden to bring in Rosethorn's crop of vegetables instead of the constant weeding of summer. As he harvested the precious tomato crop, Briar found his eyes wandering to a near by weather witch.

Her eyes were closed as she leaned against a nearby willow tree. Her spectacles were in her lap, her arms relaxed at her sides. Her head slowly lowered to her shoulder, revealing a love bite that had been sown on her neck the night before. Briar smiled as he thought to himself, _Thanks to Trisana Chandler, Barely Moon nights no longer bother me._

Not that their elders were much amused. Since they began their tryst (which was quickly becoming a full-fledged relationship) both Niko and Rosethorn had taken time to corner them, together and separately, and were pushing them towards doing something to make it more serious, or at least make sure that Tris had an anti-pregnancy charm and Briar was taking enough Droughtwort every five days. At this rate, he feared he would be sterile for the rest of his life, not just temporarily. But he had a plan for that.

Briar grinned as he resumed his work, eyes focused on the task at hand while his mind wandered to the forge where Daja and Frostpine should be working on the ring he had ordered. Thin gold band with runes for protection, love and loyalty written in-between small diamonds, sapphires and emeralds, all non-spelled, of course; he would never want it suspected that Tris only stayed with him because of a magical artifact. He could never live with the wondering himself, nor would he ever want Tris to lose faith in him. She most surely would if the ring was magical.

Just then, Tris awoke, feeling Briar's gaze drift back to her. Theirs was a somewhat lazy love; instead of constantly trying to please each other and leap over hurdles to make sure of happiness, they accepted what they were and dealt with it. It wasn't as passionate, perhaps, as the loves of ballads and poems, but it suited Tris just fine. She chuckled to herself and closed her eyes again as she remembered the activities of the night before. Their relationship wasn't lacking passion, exactly, if the mark on her neck had anything to say about it.

Briar dropped his tools and approached her quietly, hoping to catch her off guard. He did.

"Briar!" Tris squealed as he began to tickle her. "Briar- Briar, I c-c-can't breathe!"

He stopped, pulling her to her feet as she caught her breath. With a quick smirk, he kissed her, getting even more dirt all over her clean skirts. He looked her in the eye, daring her to say something. When she didn't, he kissed her again and whispered, "I'm going to the bathhouse," he looked her dead in the eye as he said, "I would be very pleased to find you in my bed on my return, Coppercurls."

Tris returned a vacant expression.

"But, Briar, you know how upset Niko gets when I miss my afternoon tide lessons."

His eyes narrowed, searching her face. Why were Niko's lessons suddenly so important? Just last week they'd been caught in a rather compromising situation when they should have been at lessons.

"You're kidding."

"Briar, my love, you know I don't kid."

Slowly, he watched her saunter away from him, swinging her hips a bit much to be headed to a lesson, in Briar's opinion. He sighed and walked away to the bathhouse.

Suddenly, he felt someone swat his bottom and whisper in his ear, "Don't keep me waiting, Thief Boy."

He broke into a dead sprint.

Niklaren Goldeye was furious.

The Dedicates of the Fire temple dodged the man, who for all his advanced years managed to stalk from the curtain wall with the grace of an offended cat. It was the second time in as many weeks that his student had failed to appear for her scheduled lesson. The first time had been thanks to Briar Moss.

If it was thanks to him this time as well, Niko would have his due pound of green mage flesh.

_I swear, if they're in bed together _again _I'll hang him from the Hub; I don't care how badly she cries._

His heart softened slightly as he strode towards Discipline, although his cant never faltered. His heart wretched at the thought of causing Tris undue distress; he could never intentionally hurt her. However, another part of him screamed to be the source of her strife. The little irrational voice in his head (and it was a little voice) wanted him to take Tris and Briar into despair with him.

No one ever said you had to be mentally stable to be a mage.

Just then, he spotted a chubby redhead striding towards him. He barely contained his sigh of relief. His relief, however, was fleeting; Tris' cheeks were flushed, her hair was tousled and her dress was wrinkled and littered with dirt smudges.

Niko's anger flared afresh.

"Trisana," he gritted through his teeth, "I expected you to be on the southern wall twenty minutes ago. Where have you been?"

She met his eyes, her look serious.

"Niko, I'm here now, what does it matter? I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I lost track of the time."

With that, she brushed past him, headed to the southern wall.

Niko noticed with great disappointment that she was practically glowing. Silently he stalked after his student, cursing her lover all the while.

Sandry sat huddled against the chimney, watching Briar pace through the garden. Her stomach clenched as she watched him; he was fiddling with what looked like a ring box and was looking up the path, clearly waiting for Tris to come home. Sandry hadn't allowed herself to be close to Briar since he and Tris had started sleeping together. It was far too tempting to try to kiss him or touch him.

Sandry saw when Tris left Niko further up the path to continue towards Discipline. Briar's face lit up when he saw her, and he ran to meet her at the gate. He pulled her into the garden and under the huge tree in the yard. Sandry still had a perfect view, however, and saw Briar go down on one knee and present the ring box to Tris.

Unfortunately, she also had a perfect view as Tris kissed him and scrambled onto his lap to get closer. She felt her stomach drop out, and scrambled back into the house just as Tris and Briar came inside to share their news.


	7. Chapter 7

In light of rereading my CoM books (as well as developing an intense fear of toasters wielded by readers frustrated with my long, long delays), the plot bunny came bouncing back. Here's another chapter, hopefully followed by a few more. Happy reading!

* * *

Tris skidded to a halt just before the kitchen door. Briar came up behind her, prodding her in the back.

"Coppercurls, what is it?"

"Briar, what are we going to say?" she demanded, twirling around to face him. "They're only going to tell us that we're too young, that we've rushed into this, that we're foolish and it can only end in disaster…"

She trailed off, tears forming in her eyes. Briar gently took her face in his hands, brushing her lips with a kiss.

"What do you want to do, Tris? I'll do whatever you wish, so long as I still get to marry you," he whispered in her ear, a grin evident in his voice. She hugged him around the middle, muffling her soft giggle in well-muscled shoulder.

"Perhaps, we should tell them one at a time, starting with Niko and Rosethorn…?" She began chewing on the end of a braid. Briar recognized her behavior as meaning she was deep in thought; he also had a feeling she was keeping something from him.

"We could do that, but only after you tell me what has you so… so lost in thought. C'mon, no secrets between us, right?"

"You'll be a father by Storm Moon, gods willing," Tris blurted in a rush. She worried her lower lip between her teeth, waiting for Briar to process what she said.

"What? How? I've been taking Droughtwort, and you have your charm…" His eyes flitted to her neck, searching for the red silk cord she used to secure it to her person. It was still in place.

"Those first few times, we were careless, Briar." His heart broke; she looked as though she expected him to take the ring back, to tell her it was off.

"Tris, I meant everything I said. I love you. There is no one else for me. I was thrilled moments ago when I asked you to marry me and you said yes, but now, this only makes it better. "Here, take this off," he said, slipping the ring off her finger and back into its box. "I'll talk to Rosethorn about my intentions first, and then we can talk to Niko together. We'll be fine, Coppercurls. I promise."

Together, they walked into the kitchen.

* * *

Sandry felt sick as she sat at dinner, waiting for Tris and Briar to share their news. Instead, the pair just sat next to each other, whispering occasionally and brushing up against each other. It was downright disgusting, in Sandry's opinion.

The meal finally ended, and Sandry automatically gathered the plates with Tris to begin cleaning. She glanced at Tris' hands, trying to catch a glimpse of the ring, but saw nothing. Perhaps something went awry?

Hiding a smile she felt horribly guilty for, Sandry began to wash the dishes.

* * *

"Rosethorn, if you have a minute, I'd like to speak with you."

She looked up from the notes she'd been taking at her work table. Briar stood in the doorway, fidgeting; he hadn't fidgeted since he was 10 and waiting for her permission to enter her workshop. She had a feeling she knew what he wanted to discuss.

Rosethorn took a moment to make her face blank and motioned him in.

"What is it, boy?"

He placed the box on the table in front of her, open so she could see the ring. Rosethorn looked between him and the ring for a minute or so.

"I'm rather old to be receiving such pretty trinkets from young men, don't you think?" she asked in her characteristically dry way. Briar couldn't help but smirk.

"I'm going to ask Tris to marry me. Actually, I already have; we just wanted to talk to you and Niko before we tell the rest."

Rosethorn's eyes grew sharp.

"There's no reason for such a quick engagement, is there?"

Briar debated about lying to her, and then decided against it.

"She's due in Storm Moon. I just found out before dinner. I had planned on asking her without that bit of information; ask Frostpine and Daj'. I asked them to design the ring a few weeks ago."

The silence hung thick between them as Rosethorn toyed with the box, pondering what Briar had just told her. Finally, she snapped the lid shut, stood and brought it to her former student. In a rare display of affection, she wrapped him in a hug and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"You're too old to ask my permission, my boy, but thank you for including an old lady in your plans. I can imagine no girl- woman, actually- other than Tris that would make a better wife for you. Ever since you were children, you two always stuck together." she pulled away and went to sit back down, a smile spreading across her face. "Now, you just have to talk to Niko… and survive."

* * *

Briar and Tris found Niko sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of tea.

With a last squeeze of their clasped hands, they approached the man, Tris taking a seat on the bench next to him and Briar across.

Niko's eyes went straight too the ring box held loosely in Briar's right hand. He appeared to deflate before their eyes, his head hanging even lower over his mug.

"Niko?" Tris queried in her most gentle voice. His head snapped up, ignoring Tris, opting to look straight into Briar's eyes instead. The younger man was surprised to see the look of defeat in Niko's eyes, but not the anger.

"So, this is how it's going to be? You're going to marry her while you're still caught in the feeling and run when its too difficult to handle?"

Tris drew into herself, while Briar fought to keep from yelling.

"I plan to marry her and stand by her for all time, Niko. I won't run."

"Easy enough to say when you're young. But what will you do for a home? To support yourself and your wife, not to mention whatever children come along? You're far too young, far too unprepared to handle anything life with throw at you-"

He would have continued his tirade had Tris not leaned into his side, gently squeezing his knee to get his attention. If he hadn't known she was carrying his child, Briar might have been jealous.

Truth be told, Briar was jealous.

"Niko," she said softly, barely loud enough for even Briar to hear, "I already am pregnant." She leaned away from her mentor to look him in the eye. "Please, before you jump to conclusions, Briar asked me to marry him before he knew of my… condition."

Tris nibbled her lower lip while waiting for a reaction. Briar swore that when he got her alone next, he'd make her pay for being such a bloody tease, even if it was unintentional.

"Tris- Trisana, do you really wish to be married? Marriage is not your only option; Lark and Rosethorn, not to mention the rest of Winding Circle, would be more than happy to help you with the child. You have options…"

"Niko," she said, cutting him off for the second time. "I do love Briar. I want to marry Briar. Enough can be made off his shakkans to establish a home here in Summersea. After I have the child, could find work scrying the winds… oracles are always fashionable for the upper classes, and I wouldn't have to do war magic that way."

Niko slumped, defeated. He saw in Tris' eyes that she really did wish to marry Briar. What was worse, he couldn't even accuse them of not having a plan of action. They were capable of surviving on their own, as many other newlyweds, some younger than sixteen and seventeen, did.

He kissed Tris on the cheek and shook Briar's hand in congratulations, but it felt hollow to him. The two crept up the stairs to Tris' attic room together, and Niko rose to clean his mug. Standing at the sink, he was the only one to hear Sandry cry that evening.

All Niklaren Goldeye could do was to silently weep with her.


	8. Chapter 8

Sandry lay awake in her bed long after Tris and Briar retired to the attic. Try as she might, she could not stop her mind from going over what the pair had told Niko.

They were getting married.

Tris was already pregnant.

Who would have thought, Sandry asked herself, that Tris, of all people, would be that careless? So much for all her talk of a person behaving properly…

She chided herself as she thought. True, Tris was sharp tempered and rather set in her ways but she never begrudged anyone his or her happiness. Though she tried logic, Sandry could not bring herself to be happy for her friends. She didn't want to be happy for them.

Finally, when the Hub clock rang out the hour before dawn, Sandry pulled herself from bed, dressed, and went into the kitchen.

She found Niko there, still sitting at the kitchen table. She had never heard him go to bed, and his lack of sleep showed on his face.

Remaining silent, Sandry made a pot of tea, fetched her and Niko's cups down from the cupboard and served them both. The young noble took the seat across from him, sipped her tea and attempted conversation.

"You didn't sleep either, I see."

"You're awfully observant, despite the early hour, Sandrilene," he snapped back. She sat back to consider the older man who had rescued her when she was a young girl.

"I'm not exactly thrilled about all of this either, Niko." He looked up at her, eyes questioning how much she knew. "I over heard your discussion with them last night. I had been hoping, rather selfishly, when I saw Tris without the ring that they had decided against marriage." Sandry shrugged and finished her tea, giving Niko a small, sad smile.

The mage returned the smile and asked, "Pray tell, Sandry, how you knew of their engagement before dinner?"

"I was watching them in the garden before the meal started," she mumbled as she blushed, embarrassed to admit she had been spying. It was amazing how Niko could make her feel as if she were ten with just one look. Trying to keep herself from feeling so helpless, she countered with a prying question of her own. "Why are you so upset? One would think you'd be thrilled to see Tris so happy."

Yes, Niko thought, I should be trilled to see the student I happened to fall for marry someone else. Instead of speaking it out loud, Niko stood from the table.

"Sandry, perhaps we should go for a walk."

* * *

They walked the winding paths of the temple city as the sun rose in the sky. 

"You remember how I asked you to sew extra pockets into my shirts, particularly the sleeves?"

Sandry looked at the path beneath her feet as she answered him.

"Yes, you said you wanted them to keep charms and the like."

Niko reached into his left sleeve and with drew what looked like a locket devoid of its chain and handed it to Sandry. She saw lightening bolt engraved on the polished gold surface, and when she opened it she saw a miniature of Tris.

Sandry sucked in a great breath, snapped it shut and handed it back to him, shocked.

"Niko-"

"I am well aware of my age, Sandrilene, as well as hers. I knew she was bound to fall in love eventually. I had just hoped it wouldn't be so soon, and not with a man I liked as much as I like Briar."

They walked for a few more minutes in silence before Sandry could manage to raise her hand and place it on his back in an effort to comfort the man. Niko stopped short at the contact and Sandry could feel the deep shuddering breath he sucked in as an attempt to calm himself. When he turned to face her, Sandry was shocked to see the pain shown so clearly on his face. It was all she could do to wrap her arms around his waist and hug him.

Even great mages needed to be human sometimes.

* * *

They returned to Discipline just as the rest of the cottage woke. Niko and Sandry worked as quickly and quietly as possible to set the breakfast table. One by one, the rest of the household trickled into the kitchen, destroying the quiet companionship they had enjoyed. 

Midway through breakfast, Briar cleared his throat. Rosethorn looked at him, her face blank but a smile forming in her eyes. Niko was suddenly engrossed in the grain of the wooden table.

"Tris and I are getting married."

Sandry felt sick when they looked at each other, Briar's face split open in a grin, and Tris' mouth twisted into smile as well; locking eyes with Niko helped her through it. At least she wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the announcement. Daja congratulated them, thrilled that she no longer had to keep quiet about the ring she and Frostpine had made. Lark smiled, but looked pensive as well.

"Marriage is fine, Briar, but what of your magic? What of Tris' magic? We've been incredibly lucky that neither of you have caused serious damage to yourselves or Winding Circle. But something must be done."

Lark retreated back to her workroom and brought out the tapestry that their four magics made up. The white silk separating Briar and Tris had frayed in a few more places, but for the most part was still in tact.

"Perhaps we could just let it go?" Briar suggested hopefully, knowing that wasn't even a possibility.

Lark shook her head, as did Niko and Rosethorn. "Out of the question, Briar," Lark told him gently. "We had this discussion a while ago and decided that the best course of action would be to have Sandry put in another border, same as she did years ago." From inside her robes she pulled a bobbin of white silk thread and handed it to the couple. "You two are to spend the day together. If Briar is working in the garden, Tris, you're to be out there with him, and so on. It goes under your pillow at night. Tomorrow morning, Sandry will collect the thread and will untangle you two."

* * *

The next morning, after breakfast, Briar handed Sandry the thread she'd need to clean up their magics. Just as he turned to leave and go about his chores, Sandry called after him. 

"Why did you ask her to marry you?"

Grey-green eyes meet bright blue ones.

"I asked _Tris_," he said, stressing her name, "to marry me because I love her. Because I can imagine no one who could better understand me and my problems."

Sandry bristled. "What about me and Daja? We're as connected to you as Tris."

"Tris and I both got the short end of the stick when it came to families, Sandry. You and Daja both had mothers and fathers that loved you, even if you're of the opinion that yours were only pleasure seekers. My mother might have loved me dearly, but she died when I was young; Tris' family treated her horribly. There's a bond there. She taught me to read, too, something neither you nor Daja even thought to offer." He shrugged. "When push comes to shove, I love all three of you, and our teachers. But at the end of the day, when I close my eyes and imagine the life I want, I see Trisana Chandler, and I see us sharing a life and raising a family."

They both stopped and considered each other for a moment. Briar crossed back to Sandry to hug her and placed a kiss on her cheek. Then he walked out into the garden to see what work Rosethorn had for him.

Sandry returned to her loom.

* * *

Alright, for anyone paying attention, there's a rather obvious homage to Daine and Numair (I love them-so cute!). As for Niko and Sandry… we'll see. I hadn't been planning on it, but it might happen. grins You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see. Enjoy, and read and review, please! 


	9. Chapter 9

Alright, we're gonna rewind it just a tad and start the night before Briar and Sandry's conversation (which ended the last chapter). After that, time moves as normal.

* * *

Trisana Chandler was having problems falling asleep.

No matter which way she moved her head, she could feel the bobbin that rested beneath her pillow. She fidgeted, trying to get comfortable. In her efforts, she woke up the man sleeping next to her.

"Coppercurls, what's wrong?"

"I can't sleep," she told him, a slight pout on her red lips.

"I can fix that," he breathed in her ear, placing a kiss on her neck. Tris' hips arched as she felt Briar's fingers skim up her thigh and under her nightshirt, lifting it as he went. His touch skipped over her right hip to settle on her abdomen.

Briar's playful demeanor dropped, and he looked Tris in the eyes, his face serious.

"You are amazing," he told her as he dropped a soft kiss on her lips. "Thank you. Thank you a million times over." He lifted her nightshirt over her head, dropped it off the side of the bed and climbed over her. Briar kissed her deeply, and both of them moaned when Tris slipped her tongue into his mouth, gently tracing patterns on the roof. She pulled away, her hands fisted in his hair.

"Why so thankful?"

At first Briar thought she was just teasing him, but then he met her gaze. She really didn't understand…?

"I am thankful," he said in between kisses, "because the world's most beautiful weather witch loves me and is giving me a child. I am thankful because you above all others have stood by me through everything. Finally, I am thankful because you are giving me the most a man can hope for: the chance to spend his life with a woman he loves and who loves him back. So, again, thank you."

They kissed again, slowly and gently, enjoying the give and take of it. Tris opened herself to him with a whispered, "I love you," and they began a dance that had been performed many times before them and would be performed many times after.

When they had finished and came down together, Tris pressed herself close to Briar's side and got ready to asleep.

"Tris, how long have you known about the baby?"

Apparently, Briar had no plans to let her get to sleep that easily.

"About three months."

He went quiet for a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Briar, the midwives at Water Temple advised against saying anything, since a pregnancy is most likely to fail within the first three months. My expectations were through the roof; if something bad had happened, I would have been a disaster. I didn't want to put you through that, too. Other than that, we were just so new together. I was afraid that if I told you, you'd bolt before we could even work anything out."

"I'd never run," he scoffed, hugging her tighter to his side.

"Hmph. That's what all men say to any woman's face and not two weeks later, they're gone from the face of the earth. Either way, I had been planning on telling you sometime soon. You asking me to marry you just sped that up a bit."

She grinned and kissed Briar's cheek before settling in to sleep.

* * *

After breakfast, Tris was summoned to the healers at Water Temple; she was due for another check up. Before leaving, she stopped before the gate and asked Briar if he'd want to come with her; he looked to Rosethorn for permission and when she nodded slightly, he bound out of the garden to take Tris' hand in his own.

They walked in silence, just enjoying a morning spent in each other's company.

Truth be told, Tris had not planned on having children until later in life, and she had always planned on being married before becoming pregnant. Subconsciously, her right hand drifted over her stomach. She wondered if the child would look more like her or Briar and what kind of magic he or she would have, if any at all.

Her mind drifted over Glaki, and wondered if she was doing well with the teacher Niko had set up for her near Lightsbridge. The last letter she had received from the orphan who had become a surrogate daughter had been two weeks ago, and she'd yet to write back. Tris grinned as she imagined the girl's excitement at having a little brother or sister and a father.

They would need to leave Discipline, and probably Winding Circle altogether, to find a home they could build for themselves. She somehow doubted that Lark, Rosethorn and the others would want an infant waking them at all hours. Tris made a mental note to talk to Briar when they got back to Discipline; perhaps they could go into Summersea as soon as this afternoon and speak to a broker about purchasing a home.

When she arrived at the Water temple, she found Dedicate Peachleaf waiting for her.

"Good morning, Trisana; Briar." the dedicate said as she lead Tris to a cot. The redhead sat down and allowed Peachleaf to take her hand as Briar leaned against the doorframe.

She felt coolness flow from her fingertips to her belly as the exam began. After a minute, Peachleaf released her and met Tris' gaze with an impish smile.

"Everything looks perfect, Trisana. I could tell you the sex of the baby, if you'd like."

Tris debated for a moment and looked to Briar. He tried to school his expression to hide his eagerness, but she knew him too well.

"Please, Peachleaf, we'd like to know."

If it was possible, the dedicate's grin grew wider and slightly wicked.

"You're carrying both."

Tris froze in shock and looked to Briar. He didn't look as if he believed it, either.

"Come again?" he asked Peachleaf.

"Twins, a boy and a girl." When she saw the young mages still had looks of disbelief on their faces, she rolled her eyes and hauled Tris to her feet saying, "Come, you two, no one from Discipline cottage has ever done anything on a small scale. Why should the pair of you, or your children, be any different?"

* * *

Their latest surprise was greeted by silence at Discipline, until Rosethorn told them point blank to find a home before the children arrived, since she was too old to be playing maid to infants.

Thanks to that bit of insight, Tris and Briar found themselves following a broker, one Silas Imogen, to number 8 Archer's Row. The neighborhood was a good one, made up mostly of wealthy merchants and craftsmen.

The house itself was white stucco with a red tile roof and a small patio on the roof, much like most of the homes in Summersea. It was walled in and had a good sized yard and small stable. An indoor privy was on the ground floor, along with a room that could be a library or sitting room, the kitchen and dinning room, and two smaller bedrooms. The upstairs held the master bedroom (which had direct access to the roof-top patio), two rooms that Tris and Briar could easily convert into their workrooms, and another room that could be a nursery.

Briar asked Silas for a minute and guided Tris onto the patio.

"So, Coppercurls, what do you think?"

"Well," she said, chewing on a thin braid, "it's rather fantastic. There's enough room for us, the babies and Glaki should she decide she wants to make her home with us one day. But can we afford it? I have enough in my accounts to buy a small apartment, perhaps, but not enough to pay for even a fourth of this." She watched Briar with some measure of concern as he leaned on the railing.

"Well, I have enough to pay half the cost upfront," he told her. Ignoring the soft gasp from his fiancé, he continued, "With the next batch of shakkans, I should be able to pay the rest off in a year. After that, it's simply a matter of spreading word to different caravans where my goods can be purchased, and perhaps setting up a booth in Market Square."

"Briar," Tris protested, "you shouldn't be paying for all of this-"

"And why not? I have no business marrying you if I cannot put a roof over your head and food on the table for you and our children. I can do both, and while we wait for the shakkans to sell, we can use your savings to buy furniture and worry about other expenses." He placed a kiss on her temple and gave her a brief hug. "Let me settle this, and we can go back to Discipline.

"Master Imogen! I'd like to speak to you about price…"

_

* * *

One Month Later_

_18th of Blood Moon_

The wedding had been an understated yet beautiful affair, held at the main temple of Winding Circle. Niko gave the bride away, even though her biological family had been in attendance. Tris reasoned that since they hadn't tolerated her strangeness when she was young, they had no right to act a part in her nuptials.

Tris and Briar had made as handsome a couple Summersea had ever seen. Sandry had of course made their clothing. Tris was beautiful in a white silk shift, over which she wore a golden outer gown. Briar was dressed in black breeches with polished leather boots, a white silk shirt and a black tunic. He had even managed to change the flowers on both his hands to black roses to match the occasion, and somehow, despite their powers being separated, lighting occasionally jumped between the flowers.

The newlyweds received their guests after the ceremony at the Duke's Citadel with a banquet and dancing. However, Tris and Briar only stayed as long as they were required to; they slipped out of the hall sometime after the cake was cut, and left their guest to enjoy the rest of the evening.

The last person to see them was a guard, who told a fellow guardsman who whispered to a scullery maid who tattled to the cook that they had locked themselves into a bedroom on the fourth floor and refused to come out for a week's time.

Upon hearing the news, the Duke laughed and called for the guests to keep dancing.

_

* * *

Twelve Years after the Fact_

"Momma, wake up!"

Tris cracked one sleepy eye open to see her two eldest (biological) children staring at her. Both of them had their father's dark bronzed skin with a reddish tint to their dark hair. The only things they had noticeably inherited from Tris were intense grey eyes and a sharp nose.

"Nathalie, we've discussed why you're not to wake your mother up before her morning tea," Briar mumbled with his head buried in Tris' hair as he lay wrapped around her.

"I'm sorry, Papa, but Glaki's vexed and pacing."

"She won't stop talking to herself, Da," her twin, Verrun, added.

Tris made to get out of bed, but was stopped when Briar pulled her tighter to him.

"Sleep a little longer, Coppercurls. Our eldest gets married today, and having two agitated women roaming this house won't help things."

He was jabbed in the ribs by a sharp elbow for his joke. He leaned over the bed to kiss his wife and pulled on his robe as their children made disgusted sounds.

"Wait until you're in love and want to kiss someone," he teased them as he took them by the hand and brought them to the kitchen.

"I'm never getting married, Papa. Boys are icky."

He beamed at his daughter and patted her head. "That's my girl. No boys, at least not until you're thirty."

Settling them at the table, he put a bowl of grapes in front of Nathalie and Verrun, and quickly making tea.

"Now, where's your big sister?"

"Library, Da," Verrun got out around a mouthful of grapes. Unluckily for the boy, his mother came in just then.

"Verrun, honestly, don't put that many in your mouth and chew and swallow before speaking," Tris admonished from the kitchen door, bouncing their newest son, Den on her hip and loosening the grip their four-year-old daughter, Karenna, had on her robe.

"Yes, Momma," he responded, looking properly shamed faced. She kissed both of the twins good morning as she handed Den off to Briar. Silently, she grabbed her mug from a cabinet and poured herself her morning tea.

After taking a sip, she looked at Briar.

"Glaki's in the library?" He nodded as he focused on cleaning the milk from Den's face. Without another word, Tris went to find her surrogated daughter, mumbling something about not being this nervous on her wedding day.

Briar smiled as he watched her go and then looked at his children. He would never cease to be amazed at how life worked.

At twenty nine years of age, he had been married for twelve fantastic years, been granted four children by the most beautiful and cleaver witch he had ever known, and was now lucky enough to watch their eldest get married to a man who, albeit young and foolish, loved his daughter dearly.

He harried Verrun and Nathalie from the table and into the privy to wash up. As he did so, he rapped his knuckles on the wall, changing the flowers on his hands from their multitude of colors to the black roses with lightening he'd worn on his own wedding day.

Life was cyclical, indeed.

* * *

This is it, ladies and gents, the end of the road. This is the final chapter of Black Lightening Roses, and I'm sorry if it feels rushed to you. I think the problem with this story is that I let it get away with me, due to the long breaks in the writing. I'm working on another Tris/Briar fic that takes place during _The Will of the Empress_ and hopefully will be a more satisfying work. Thank you all for reading and sticking with me and reviewing and asking me to keep writing. Sometimes that's all a writer needs, being told that someone enjoys either work and wants to know what happens next. So, for that, thank you! 


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